Next week's Tube strikes are off: RMT suspends action

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Last month's Tube strike caused chaos in the capital (Source: Getty)

Rebecca Smith

Planned Tube strikes for next week have been suspended, the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union has announced.

More than 3,000 of the union's members were poised to walk out from 6pm on Sunday until 10am on Monday and then again from 10am on Tuesday 7 February until 1am on Wednesday 8 February, with more dates to be announced in March.

The union said it had secured the reversal of "nearly 60 per cent" of proposed job cuts.

LU's annual recruitment was 325 station staff. The agreement has been settled for an additional 325 members of staff, of which 200 will be full-time.

"That is a tremendous victory and a reflection of the resilience and determination of our reps and the membership right across London Underground," said general secretary Mick Cash. "We will now continue to work on implementation of the new staffing arrangements at the local level and as always RMT remains eternally vigilant.”

Steve Griffiths, chief operating officer for LU, said:

We are pleased to have reached an agreement with both unions and we welcome the RMT’s decision to suspend the strike action planned for next week.

We agree that we need more staff in our stations and we will be recruiting at least 650 new station staff this year, of which 325 will be additional new roles.

The remainder will comprise supervisor and customer service assistant roles and are expected to be a mix of both full time and part time.

"We will continue working with the unions as well as implementing the independent recommendations made by the London TravelWatch review to help meet the needs of our customers and to ensure they feel safe, fully supported and able to access the right assistance at all times,” he added.

The strikes would have been the latest action in the long-running row over the closure of Tube ticket offices and job losses. A walkout last month over the issue shut down the majority of Zone 1 stations.

"This is an excellent deal that will ensure commuters get the service they need at Underground stations, and it will fix the mess created by the previous mayor," he added.

But Conservative London Assembly member Keith Prince said that Khan "has shown the RMT and the TSSA that they can get their way by striking and threatening to strike", which would only encourage more industrial action.